They have become regulars at the Welch Avenue coffeehouse.

Students go to Stomping Grounds, 303 Welch Ave., in order to listen to the live bands and poetry readings, study and drink coffee.

Jeremy Alm, graduate student in mathematics; Sara Loofbourrow, senior in psychology; and Tim Rourk, senior in mechanical engineering, are just a few of those “regulars” who were at Stomping Grounds on Tuesday night and are there up to four nights a week.

They seem not to mind the noise from the speakers playing music, the grinds behind the coffeebar and the other customers simply conversing with each other. It makes studying easier sometimes, Alm says.

“Sometimes it’s easier with this going on than with silence,” he says.

Rourk agrees that, although it’s loud at times, it’s better than the silence.

“Some people don’t like the noise,” he says. “But I don’t mind it so much; I can’t study when it’s quiet.”

For Loofbourrow, coming to Stomping Grounds is a way to get away from everything at home.

“It’s very relaxing to come here. It helps me concentrate,” she says. “I get too distracted at home with a lot of things to do, and coming here I can focus more.”

Last spring, after being temporarily closed, the walls of the restaurant expanded to add 1,250 more square feet. Jonathan Reed, owner of Stomping Grounds, says the change has given patrons more than just a conducive atmosphere for studying.

“We’ve expanded and added a stage,” Reed says. “That’s allowed us to do more live music and poetry readings.”

The musicians Stomping Grounds brings in are mostly local bands that don’t produce a mainstream sound.

“We try to keep it all local, but your talent pool is limited when you stay in the area,” Reed says. “We are open to expanding the scope in the type of music based on getting quality local musicians.”

Reed says the response to the bands playing at his restaurant has been positive.

Loofbourrow says the musicians are a nice addition to the Stomping Grounds atmosphere and says she has bought the CDs the bands offer during their gigs.

“They do a really good job of advertising for them, giving them an opportunity to get out their music to the public,” she says.

Alm says when bands come to perform, only half of the customers are actually listening to them play.

“There is usually about half of the audience that is actually paying attention that always claps and that claps after the solos,” he says. “And about half the people that pay no attention, but there is usually a significant number that seem to appreciate the music.”

Along with bringing in local bands, poetry readings are also being held on the Stomping Grounds stage.

“We had poetry just one time,” Reed says. “It was a pretty good audience for that. I think people enjoyed it.”

Luke Southworth, graduate student in English, was part of the group that performed poetry at Stomping Grounds. He is co-president of Writer’s Block, a group of mostly graduate students in the creative writing master’s program. The group was invited to perform there after a faculty member spoke to Reed about the program.

“We liked Stomping Grounds enough to try it out there,” Southworth says.

Both Alm and Rourk were at Stomping Grounds for the poetry reading.

“I’ve only been here for one poetry reading, and I guess it was the typical poetry reading,” Alm says. “I’ll make that my only comment.”

Although Rourk was in the coffeehouse, he came to study and says he wasn’t paying much attention.

Southworth says he noticed during the readings that many people were studying.

“I think anything would have bothered them,” he says.

Southworth says although some of the customers weren’t listening, he enjoyed the audience that was.

“It’s nice to have a place where people go that will open a stage for us,” Southworth says. “We are hoping to build it up so we can get more and more people to come each time.”

— Pat Brown contributed to this article.