Artist endures rooms that aren’t very nice (8)

I believe the answer is:

ratholes

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'rooms that aren't very nice' is the definition.
'ratholes' can be an answer for 'rooms' (rathole is a kind of room). I am unsure of the rest of the definition.

'artist endures' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'endures' becomes 'tholes' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ra'+'tholes'='RATHOLES'

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app