Subversion setup

I'm resurrecting a subversion setup.
subversion 1.6.5 on apache 2.

Apache setup
<Location /repos>
Dav svn
SVNParentPath /srv
Authtype Basic
AuthName "..."
AuthuserFile /etc/svnauthfile
Require valid-user
</Location>

user apache is set as owner of /srv and all subdirectories
I used, as root,
svnadmin create /srv/files
svnadmin create /srv/pac

Then updated ownership again.

I set two users for access
#htpasswd -cm /etc/svnauthfile dpawson
#htpasswd -m /etc/svnauthfile sue

On the server, as root I can import files OK.
as a normal user I can't, and I'm getting
svn: Can't open file /srv/files/db/txn-current-lock': Permission denied

From a client
# svn list --username dpawson http://192.168.1.74/repos/files
svn: access to 'http://192.168.1.74/repos/files' forbidden

I guess it's a common 403 error code, but I can't figure out
where the permissions are wrong.

any suggestions please.

TIa

-- 
Dave Pawson