Hayes is a town in west London. Historically situated within the county of Middlesex, it is now part of the London Borough of Hillingdon. The town's population, including its localities Hayes End, Harlington and Yeading, was recorded in the 2021 census as 93,928. It is situated 13 miles (21 km) west of Charing Cross, or 6.5 miles (10.5 km) east of Slough. Hayes is served by the Great Western Main Line, and Hayes & Harlington railway station is on the Elizabeth line. The Grand Union Canal flows through the town centre.

Hayes has a long history. The area appears in the Domesday Book (1086). Landmarks in the area include the Grade II* listed Parish Church, St Mary's – the central portion of the church survives from the twelfth century and it remains in use (the church dates back to 830 A.D.) – and Grade-II-listed Barra Hall, the Town Hall from 1924 to 1979.

Hayes is known as the erstwhile home of EMI. The words "Hayes, Middlesex" appear on the reverse of The Beatles' albums, which were manufactured at the town's Old Vinyl Factory. The town centre's "gold disc" installation marks the fiftieth anniversary on 1 June 2017 of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, manufactured in Hayes in 1967. Nearby London Heathrow Airport is the largest single provider of employment.

Notable historical residents include the early modern "father of English music", William Byrd, and a pre-eminent figure of twentieth-century English literature, George Orwell.

The place-name Hayes comes from the Anglo-Saxon Hǣs or Hǣse: "(land overgrown with) brushwood". In the Domesday book (1086), it is spelt Hesa. The town's name is spelt Hessee in a 1628 entry in an Inquisition post mortem held at The National Archives.

Hayes is formed of what originally were five separate villages: Botwell, Hayes Town, Hayes End, Wood End and Yeading. The name Hayes Town has come to be applied to the area around Station Road between Coldharbour Lane and Hayes & Harlington railway station, but this was historically the hamlet called Botwell. The original Hayes Town was the area to the east of St Mary's Church, centred around Church Road, Hemmen Lane and Freeman's Lane.

A 2007 archaeological study looks back to earliest times. It describes finds such as flint tools dating to the Paleolithic period (500,000 BC - 10,000 BC) at the sites of Botwell, EMI Company works, and Colbrook Avenue (near Dawley Road) [4.1.2]; more finds dating to the Mesolithic period (10,000 BC - 4,000 BC) at the site of Lake Farm Country Park [4.1.3]. The site of Wyre Grove (off North Hyde Road) produced finds including pottery from the Bronze Age (2,400 BC - 700 BC), Iron Age (700 BC - AD 43), Romano-British period (AD 43 - 410) and early Anglo-Saxon period (AD 410 - 1066) [4.1.6-11]. The report cites an 831 grant as evidence that the Botwell area has existed as a settlement since Anglo-Saxon times [4.1.12].

For some 700 years up to 1546, Hayes formed part of the Archbishop of Canterbury's estates, ostensibly owing to grants from the Mercian royal family. In that year, the then-Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was forced to surrender his land to King Henry VIII, who subsequently granted the estate to Edward North, 1st Baron North. The area changed hands several times thereafter, but by the eighteenth century, two family-names had established themselves as prominent and long-time landowners: Minet) and Shackle.