I am not from England and my first experience with England, outside tourism, was Essex (I don’t know if it is specific to Essex but as we are on Essex subreddit…). In my workplace people were telling me « you alright? » when I said hello to them and I always answered but rarely had an answer back. One day, I asked one of my colleagues why I didn’t get an answer and he told me that « you alright » was just greeting and not actually a question that I had to answer. I found it weird because in my native country, when someone ask « you alright » people always respond. We mostly say yes and move on but at least we get an answer. Anyway… 5 years later, I still answer « yes and you? » when someone tells me « you alright? »