FTB looking for suitable pockets to buy in London (< 500k)

Hi All. I am a FTB looking to buy a flat/house in London. I am viewing this with a 5yr time horizon post which I will decide if I want to upsize. So, some re-sale value will be appreciated (as long as it's not a loss, I should be fine). For this reason, not much into new-builds. But still focussing within 1yr - 10yr age of the build.

2 beds + 2 baths is a bare minimum requirement for me. Work is at London Bridge but currently only go to office once a week (could be twice a week later). But definitely hybrid working in the long term. Budget is anything under 500k.

My ideal accomodation would be: Option 1: spacious 2 + 2 with balcony/terrace, at walking distance to a train/tube station (with under 40-45 mins commute to London Bridge), relatively safe to walk in the neighborhood at night, with lots of amenities + shopping/cinema close by.

This is ofcourse the "ideal" but realistically want to check as many boxes as I can.

I am open to both houses or flats as long as there are no pre-existing issues with the flat (cladding/extremely treacherous service charges, I am seeing flat with c5k a year on Zoopla! I feel c2k-2.5k is doable).

Could you please suggest some suitable pockets in London where I can focus on? I don't want to go too west (close to Heathrow) or too east (Ilford, etc).