Mitcham. Might be a CR postcode, but it's not Croydon, we could be Surrey (county) or Merton (council). Its 25 minutes to Victoria, there's a tram to Wimbledon and IKEA (and a bit further, but we don't mention that).
The older houses in the Cricket Green area are quite nice.
I'd like a different answer to Croydon, and therefore hope to get one by plaintively re-posing the same question.
That said, Croydon isn't London, I'd suggest.