Aylestone is a suburb of Leicester in Leicestershire, England, southwest of the city centre and east of the River Soar.

St Andrew's Church, Aylestone dates from the 13th century. The area around the church retains much of the former village character. It is largely surrounded by Victorian housing close to the city centre (Aylestone Park) and by 20th-century housing in other directions.

The electoral ward of Aylestone covers Old Aylestone village (including the conservation area), the Gilmorton estate, the south and west of Aylestone Park (the remainder is in Saffron ward) and the southwest side of Saffron Lane (to Grace Road). The ward borders Saffron and Eyres Monsell wards and the county parish of Glen Parva and is in the parliamentary constituency of Leicester West. The ward has two elected councillors: currently these are Councillor Scott Kennedy-Lount (Liberal Democrat, first elected 2023) and Councillor Nigel Porter (formerly Conservative, from 2011 a Liberal Democrat).

The name 'Aylestone' comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'Aegel's settlement' or 'Egil's settlement'. Aylestone was recorded in the Domesday Book as Ailstone, held in the reign of Edward the Confessor by Alveva, Countess of Mercia. In 1086 it was held by Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester. The manor passed from Robert to his son Robert le Bossu, thence to Bossu's son Robert Blanchemains and finally to Blanchemains' son, Robert FitzPernel. FitzPernel died without issue, and his estates were divided between his two sisters, the manor of Aylestone passing to Margaret, who married Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester. The manor passed by marriage into the hands of the Harcourt family, and then the Pembrugge family of Tong, Shropshire. On the death of Fulke de Pembrugge IV in 1409, the manor passed to his wife Isabel. Fulke and Isabel having no issue, the manor eventually passed to the grandson of Fulk's sister Juliana, Richard Vernon III. Aylestone remained in the hands of the Vernon family until the death of Sir George Vernon in 1565. His daughter Dorothy having married John Manners, second son of the 1st Earl of Rutland, Aylestone passed to the Manners family, who later became the Dukes of Rutland.

The estate was sold by the 6th Duke of Rutland, the sale being held at the Temperance Hall in Leicester on 26 June 1869.

The Leicester Extension Act 1891 (54 & 55 Vict. c. c) incorporated Aylestone into the Borough of Leicester. The village had at this time an area of 1,723 acres. On 26 March 1896 the civil parish was abolished and merged with Leicester.

Aylestone's open fields were enclosed in 1766. about this time Aylestone was the chosen route into Leicester Town for the supply of coal from the areas around Bagworth, Desford and Swannington which was carried in by Packhorse "trains" who crossed, on the Aylestone packhorse bridge, the (sometimes swampy) flood plain area now known as Aylestone Meadows.

During the English Civil War/War of Three Kingdoms King Charles I of England and Prince Rupert used Aylestone Hall as their headquarters during the siege and storming of Parliamentarian Leicester Town by the main Royalist field army on 30 and 31 May 1645. Aylestone Hall was occupied by a ladies' boarding school in 1846. When the estate was sold in 1869 the hall was occupied by a tenant, Nathaniel Stone, who purchased it. From 1871 to 1938 the hall was occupied by the Stretton family. It was requisitioned by the army during World War II. In 1950 Leicester City Council purchased it, and after renovation the hall and the grounds were opened in 1954 as a public park, with a restaurant and a clubhouse for the local bowling club.