‘Amazing community’: how people are making new friends and connections as adults

‘Even though you’re doing an exercise class, there’s that informal aspect where you are having a bit of a joke and a laugh.’ Photograph: Thomas Barwick/Getty Images

Amid growing concern about loneliness and social isolation, new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research found the number of young people in England with no close friends has risen fivefold since 2014, with one in 20 now reporting having none at all.

Making new friends as an adult is not always easy. We spoke to people who have taken deliberate steps to make new connections about what worked for them.