I know that Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett couldn't have known each other before, but why would she say "Always had a fondness for you, I did." if she had just met him that day? What's your opinion?

i think that she meant that she had a fondness for him since he was Benjimin Barker, u know a barber and his wife living in a barber shop above mrs.lovett's pie shop

i think its just old london much the same as cockney ryhming slang or if it helps he came from there originaly she may be the only one to reconise him?

But they DID meet before. She had the pie shop under Lucy and his apartment. They probably just never really spoke other than saying hello. How do you think she knew he was benjamin and how she knew EXACTLY what happened to Lucy? It's because she was there on the sidelines the whole time.

Mrs. Lovett knew Sweeney Todd as Benjamin Barker. She was hot for him then, and she knows already that he is Benjamin Barker, so she's telling him how she feels. That all explains the whole thing about her lying about Lucy and all that crap.